Heart of Darkness ends with Marlow calling on Kurtz’ fiancée in a dimly-lit mansion in an unnamed metropolis which Marlow calls merely the “sepulchral city.”  Still in mourning more than a year later, she wants to know Kurtz’ final words.  Marlow tells her that Kurtz called her name.  But this is a lie – as he lay dying, Kurtz whispered, “The horror!  The horror!”

Marlow’s little white lie was meant to shield a woman’s feelings from an ugly truth.  By the end of the narrative, however, the author Joseph Conrad’s made the point that civilization is based on lies – although we may call them faith, beliefs, ideas, or “the great and saving illusion.”  And we need these lies, he implies, to shield us from the primeval darkness which lies deep within the soul.

But is this really the case?  As someone who spends a lot of time in wilderness, this question nags at me.  I recently reread Heart of Darkness, as I was preparing for a trip to Maine, a place that seems plenty mysterious and primitive, if not quite so far off as Africa. Continue reading “The Little White Lie in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” →